Saturday, December 7, 2013

Author Interview – J.J. Ward @MI7Ward

How do you think people perceive writers?

I believe everyone thinks they’re a writer or could be one. Writers must therefore be held in fairly high esteem.

What’s your next project?

It’s a toss-up. I’ll either write another MI7 novel and e-publish it, or a literary novel and send it to agents. I’ve got a firm plan for the latter, but on the whole, I think soliciting agents is always going to be a waste of time. Whether they like what I’ve – or you’ve – written will always be down to chance factors beyond the control of any writer. The chances of being picked up by one are always pretty negligible.

What’s the reason for your life? Have you figured out your reason for being here yet?

I think we’re all here for the same reason. To please God. However you might interpret that.

How do you feel about self-publishing?

I am a self-published author, so obviously I think it’s pretty ace. If someone was o give me enough money to start a publishing business tomorrow, I think there’s enough evidence on Amazon – rightly interpreted – to enable me to award deals to ten, twelve, twenty self-published authors and give the big boys a real run for their money.

Do you know your neighbours?

Yes. We get on well with both sides.

When someone starts assassinating paparazzi in three countries, MI7 sits up. Apparently, the killer is none other than Dmitri Vassyli Kramski, retired SVR field-operative and former Kremlin protégé. True, the Cold War is long finished, but everyone knows Vladimir Putin is as unhappy for Russia to play second fiddle on the international stage as even the most strident of his Communist predecessors. In 2010 therefore, East-West relations remain as tortuous as ever.

Kramski’s trail leads deep into London’s émigré community, forcing his pursuers into conflict with an unknown organisation bent on protecting him. Bit by bit, he begins to look less like a professional assassin and more like someone plotting to scupper the foundations of Western democracy itself. To compound matters, the Russians are as baffled by him as anyone.